Adding a non-load bearing wall to your house
A walkthrough of building a wall with barn doors to help you tackle similar projects
On the day we were supposed to move into our home, the radiant heating system in the concrete floor sprung a leak and flooded the house. The short version of the story is that during the ensuing remodel, we had the contractors remove a non load bearing wall in a 5th room to make it an open “play room.”
Since we don’t have a basement or an upper level, I eventually wanted to convert this space back into something that could be legally labeled as a bedroom while retaining some semblance of an open floor plan. I decided to take the project on during a holiday break— here’s how it went.
Prerequisites
I’m not a professional, however, after some 20 years of home ownership and a foundation of knowledge from wood & metal shop in public school, I possess many of tools and education needed to know where and how to start building a wall.
More than anything else, knowing the order of operations in tackling a project of this size is the biggest obstacle to success, after that, all the finer details fall into place.
An oversimplified litmus test of whether you’re ready for a project of this scale is whether or not you can currently intuit when and why you’d use the tool known as a plumb bob.
I believe the plumb bob is rare enough in daily life, yet so critical to carpentry that, should you already possess knowledge of it, you’re likely the type to have the wherewithal to proceed in reasoning about such an undertaking. So, begin by asking yourself, “do I know why I’d need to use a plumb bob?”
Preparations
Before I even started to think about the solution, I did a google image search of wall framing to refresh my memory on the major facets of a wall’s structure — paying special attention to areas of the wall that might need to support weight or span openings:
I had a general understanding of the engineering of a wall from personal interest in the topic before having ever built a wall, though, this refresher was a critical step in tuning up my project plan.
After that, it was several rounds of measuring and sketching. I measured the space and drew the available dimensions, then I taped out several different variations of the wall configuration to get a feel for its presence in the space.
After several rounds of sketches and ideation (including measuring existing doorways in the house to ensure the new entryway was proportional to others), I was able to get a good sense of the materials I’d need to begin.
My material cost estimate came out to approximately $750. In the end, I ended up spending just shy of $700 with close to 6 trips to the local hardware store.
Most lumber comes in 8' lengths and the price of these materials can be found online. Putting together a cost estimate set the project up for success, but also prevented me from having to ping pong to the hardware store.
Beginning
For any DIY project, you’ll be most successful if you prepare your workspace and tools. I had a staging area in my garage with all the necessary tools and materials already set out.
I then started by penciling out the placement of the new wall in its location using a level and measuring tape (markings on the wall in the image below, background). It was also quickly evident that I was going to have to move a light switch, so I opened it up to get a sense of how much electrical wire I had to work with (below, foreground):
There was very little slack in the available electrical wire, so I added 14 gauge Romex to my shopping list (make sure to use the correct gauge wire for the level of amps of a circuit — this will be listed on the corresponding circuit switch in your main breaker box; in my case, this switch was on a 15 amp circuit).
Here is a sneak peek at the final placement and splicing of the junction box:
Note that in this case, I chose to mount the new wall framing to the surface of the existing drywall because 1) there were three (yes, three!) layers of existing drywall already here and it would have been a nightmare to remove, and 2) I was able to add blocking in between the ceiling joists in the attic so that I would have something permanent to tie the new wall’s header to.
After sketching the placement of the new wall on all the finished surfaces of the existing space, I was able to begin framing the wall:
Important notes I’d like to highlight here are:
- This wall is permanently anchored at the top to the ceiling joists and at the bottom to the concrete using 2.5" ramset drive pins. I removed a section of the finished floor (equal to the final finished footprint of the wall + 1/2") so that the wall would rest directly on a stable surface.
- I installed a double 2x4 header with jack stud supports/braces and 16" on center cripples (according to local ordinance, only a single 2x4 header was required for this opening span, though I doubled it up as it would need to support a barn door).
- My only regret here was not having installed cross-bracing between the 2x4s, however, I did end up putting cross bracing at the height of the header to give the barn doors something to anchor to. Being an interior non-load bearing wall, reviews were mixed on the need for cross bracing and, in this case, I was just lazy when I shouldn’t have been.
There was nothing quite as satisfying in this project as having seen the shape of the wall take form out of nothingness.
Rough finishes
Rough framing of the wall is a big milestone. Thereafter, most tasks are related to elements of the finished surfaces, though I did choose to insulate the wall. It might not be intuitive to want to insulate an interior wall though, it’s a very nice touch for sound control and privacy —it’s easy, quick, and cheap; a no-brainer.
Although difficult to see, the other side of the wall in the above picture had already been hung with drywall. Drywalling, by far, was my least favorite thing about this project and the only thing I’d probably hire out in the future.
Mudding and sanding drywall is an art form that many trades people take years to perfect. It’s also exceptionally messy. In the trade, dry wallers are sometimes called mud monkeys.
At this point in the project, I entered drywall sanding hell. It was so much non-fun that I forgot to take a picture of my setup. I sandwiched the new wall in two plastic drop cloths taped to the ceiling to catch as much dust as possible. Nonetheless, I ended up with heaps of drywall dust on the floor and fine particulate having left a thin layer of dust on many nearby objects.
If I ever have to do drywall again, I’d likely rent a HEPA air filter from one of the big-box hardware stores. The size of this project was just small enough where an n95 mask and goggles plus a thorough clean-up was good enough.
Last steps
It’s difficult to explain the elation that comes with the completion of drywall. You feel that you’ve overcome a major life obstacle and that you will forever be unburdened by any task yet to come — the end was in sight.
Next up was to install the moulding. We opted to keep the existing moulding profile which was 3/4" standard floorboard with a 1/2" 1/4 round:
Moulding is another skill that takes some time to perfect. Luckily, I’ve installed many linear feet of moulding from previous house projects. Walls (even new ones) are imperfect and it’s often not as simple as getting two 45° angles to line up.
One way to fill imperfections in the moulding joints and nail holes is to use drywall compound. It’s very easy to work with and sands to a smooth, almost imperceivable finish.
This milestone mostly marked the end of the wall construction. All that was left was to paint the wall and moulding and install the barn door + hardware.
The door(s)
I very much love woodworking projects and a quick glance at the price and design of pre-made barn doors online made me quickly realize I wanted to build my own.
Our home is kind-of-mid-century so the typical big, rustic barn doors weren’t going to look nice in our home. My wife and I did some pinteresting and found a few designs we liked as inspiration. For about $150 of MDF board and a day’s worth of my time, I was able to build our own custom design:
This type of woodworking is a real pleasure and something everyone should try. For a desk-bound-tech worker like myself, there’s nothing more rewarding than building something tangible and useful. These types of projects are often low’ish cost with a high reward and low risk (aside from having to use sharp tools!).
Building, lifting, sanding, nailing. It’s real, bonafide hard work. In fact, the fingerprint sensor on my laptop no longer recognized my fingerprints after this project. Doing this type of work gives you a true appreciation for folks that work in the trades full time.
Final touches
I wanted to go with a concealed barn door rail, though I found that it was 4x the price of a $100 version on Amazon, so I saved some dough using the cheaper version.
Our available horizontal space for the barn door rail was 10 ft 11 inches and most barn door rails are made in even foot increments. So, it turns out, I had to cut the 1/4" steel rail to fit.
The last time I did any metalwork was some 15 years ago so I was a bit apprehensive about putting this material into a saw. Though, after having researched the right tool for the job, I quickly discovered this task was just as easy as cutting wood stock.
Having cut the steel to the appropriate dimension, and following the included instructions with the barn door hardware very closely, I was able to hang the doors, attaching the rail to the wood struts and header behind the drywall that I had preplanned as supports.
That’s it
Some folks might dread even the simplest DIY projects, some might love getting their hands dirty and giving a new challenge a try. For me, this particular project combined many of my loves and abilities for smaller projects into a single endeavor, and I look forward to similar projects in the future.
Whatever your ability, I hope that you learned something from this example and that it might give you the inspiration to tackle the next new challenge that comes up in your life.
